“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
(Jalal ud-Din Rumi known as Rumi – Persian poet and theologian, 1207-1273)
Early in the morning, I met these two young men who were washing their garments in the holy waters of the Ganges at Lal ghat in Varanasi.

“That perfected machines may one day succeed us is, I remember, an extremely commonplace notion on Earth.
It prevails not only among poets and romantics but in all classes of society.
Perhaps it is because it is so widespread, born spontaneously in popular imagination, that it irritates scientific minds.
Perhaps it is also for this very reason that it contains a germ of truth.
Only a germ: Machines will always be machines; the most perfected robot, always a robot.
But what of living creatures possessing a certain degree of intelligence, like apes?
And apes, precisely, are endowed with a keen sense of imitation.…”
(From “Planet of the Apes” by Pierre Boulle)

Someone dropped by chance a rice packet in a gali leading to the Ganges and in a jiffy many monkeys came down from almost every rooftops to collect the precious cereal grains.
They were absolutly naughty and very noisy so most of the people had to turn back trying to find other ways to reach the ghats…

“I have come home at last!
This is my real country!
I belong here.
This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…
Come further up, come further in!”
(From “The Last Battle” by C.S. Lewis)

In Varanasi (Benaras) there is a temple between Scindia ghat and Manikarnika ghat which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
This temple doesn’t look like any other in the city because of its amazing sculptures with angels which are all around the shrine.
Those angels are musicians and they all play a different instrument.
Each time I come, there is no one, then I am alone in this dreamy atmosphere.
I know it is a kind of gate to after death as just nearby funeral pyres burn day and night at the cremation ghat which is underneath.
However this is not the reason why there are angels here.
I became close to the priest and his family who are keeping this sanctuary, sometimes he is making a puja for me and each time we meet he applies a refreshing ointment on my forehead made of eucalyptus and turmeric…

“This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, ‘This is an interesting world I find myself in — an interesting hole I find myself in — fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it?
In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!’
This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise.
I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.”
(From “The Salmon of Doubt” by Douglas Adams)

This is the reflection of the palace standing at Scindia ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
The puddle was drying, getting smaller and smaller, ready to swallow the building, the ghats and the whole city…

“Black and white are the colors of photography.
To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.
Most of my photographs are of people; they are seen simply, as through the eyes of the man in the street.
There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.
This kind of photography is realism.
But realism is not enough–there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.
It is difficult to describe this thin line where matter ends and mind begins.
(Robert Frank – American photographer and filmaker, b.1924)

This sadhu was walking at Scindia ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras), it was after sunrise and he was holding a traditional tiffin-box containing a meal prepared by some generous soul…

“You’ve got to struggle against the pollution of intelligence in order to become an animal with very sharp instincts – a sort of intuitive medium – so that to photograph becomes a magical act, and slowly other more suggestive images begin to appear behind the visible image, for which the photographer cannot be held responsible.”
(Robert Doisneau – French photographer, 1912-1994)

This picture was shot recently in Chandni Chowk, one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi.
Nothing has changed much since a few centuries in the narrow lanes going from Jama Masjid to Chawri Bazar.
This is the heart of the City of Djinns…

In Varanasi (Benaras) there is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva between Scindia ghat and Manikarnika ghat which doesn’t look like any other in the city because of its amazing sculptures with angels which are all around the shrine playing different music instruments.
This place is a kind of gate to after death as the cremation ghat is underneath with funeral pyres burning day and night.
It is not easy to climb the high and narrow staircase plunged in total darkness.
However each stair allows to ascend towards the light and to take the time to elevate oneself…

“Be kind to all creatures; this is the true religion.” (Siddhārtha Gautama, known as the Buddha – c. 563 BCE/480 BCE – c. 483 BCE/400 BCE) This is a close-up of one of the statues of the Buddha inside the Tibetan temple in Sarnath which is located at 13 km away from Varanasi (Benaras). More […]

Originally posted on Red Halo: Since the first collection, Red Halo introduced a specific design reminding the Mughal’s royal court magnificence. It was designed by Manish Gupta and inspired by a Persian carpet style, in a way it was making a bridge between the carpet industry that he knew so well and this interior company…

Originally posted on Red Halo: Our show-room in Benares was thought with neutral colours and simple contemporary elements which allow to emphasize our products. We keep this concept for the booths we settle all over the world when we show our collections during exhibitions and fairs or for the Red Halo shops and corners in…

“The longing for Paradise is man’s longing not to be man.” (From “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera) This picture was shot at Manikarnika Ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where Hindus are cremated hoping to receive moksha, freedom from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. Moksha allows one to […]

“I tell you once and for all— in front of the angel pictures on the wall, that I am not a host to load-bearing ghosts or headyentities, and if I was ever holy, I have fallen far into the dense atmosphere of the living.” (From ” Drum Machine” by Kristen Henderson) This is a street […]

“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.” (David Bailey – English fashion and portrait photographer, b.1938) This picture […]

“To the Divine” is a picture shot during the Ganga Aarti celebrated for Dev Diwali at Prayag ghat along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras). It was selected for the image cover of the October 2014 issue of “SHUBH YATRA”, the inflight magazine of Air India. Join the photographer at LAURENT […]

“Monsoon’s showers” is a picture shot in New Delhi during the first day of monsoon. Some devotee were waiting in line in the street in order to worship in a temple, they were enjoying the rain after the heat of summer. It was selected for “De l’eau et des hommes” a book by Jean-Claude Lefeuvre […]

“Out of Sundays Dancing” is a picture with four parrots dancing in the air at Munshi ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras). It was selected to make the cover of “A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth which is released for the 20Th Anniversary Edition. _______________________ “A Suitable Boy”: 20Th Anniversary Edition by Vikram Seth […]